Maryland BPAC meeting minutes Feb and April 2012

Items of local note from the February and April minutes

• Dennis Callahan, former mayor of Annapolis and opponent of the W&BA trail alignment
  proposal through the Myers property in Anne Arundel County, had passed away.
• The Committee voted in support of a motion for the Chair to send a letter to the Secretary
  of Transportation noting MBPAC’s support for the concept of rails with trails
• The name of the rail to trail proposal in south Washington County has been changed from the Roxbury-Weverton Trail to the Civil War Railroad Trail to note that it passes nearby the sites of much Civil War activity, including the Antietam National Battlefield. This 24 mile proposed trail alignment extends in a northwesterly-southeasterly alignment from the C&O Canal at Weverton to Hagerstown’s City Park. Sixteen miles of the proposal trail is owned by the Department of Natural Resources. The upper five miles would be a rail-with-trail proposal. CSX railroad opposes this concept and this trail proposal will be added to a MBPAC resolution expressing support of both rail-to-trail and rail-with-trail concepts. Support for the proposed trail from the Town of Keedysville and the Save Historic Antietam Foundation citizens group. There is much more support in southern Washington County for the proposed trail now than there was when the trail was proposed twenty years ago.
• Greg Hinchliffe met with Andy Harris, Mid-Atlantic Coordinator of the East Coast Greenway and Michael Jackson to discuss ECG’s request to sign Maryland’s portion of the ECG.
• Jim Titus discussed his concerns with differing guidelines between the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation and the State Highway Administration regarding the width of bike lanes on Virginia Manor Road.
• A motion was introduced a that MDOT increase the funding eligibility for bikeway projects from a distance of one half mile to two miles from a rail transit station if the bikeway provides a connection to that station. Scott Hansen seconded and the motion was approved with three abstentions.
• Michael Jackson with MDOT mentioned that he had been asked to provide testimony on SB 977/HB 1278 which would require public institutions of higher education to include bicycle and pedestrian transportation planning in their facility master plans at the House Appropriations Committee and that Dr. Maria Prince from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene also provided supportive testimony
• A motion was approved requesting that MDOT provide a family-friendly trail spur between the BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport Terminal and the BWI Trail. Michael Jackson noted such improvements are contemplated in the BWI Trail Improvements Conceptual Plan currently being finalized.

Comments

[darren]

Re: the two mile transit bikeshed - why 2 miles? New-ish FTA policy defines the relationship of bike facilities to transit stations as being within 3 miles. Would think for consistency and shooting for the moon that going with 3 would be the way to go http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-19/pdf/2011-21273.pdf

[Purple Eagle]

Is there a map showing the route of the proposed trail between Weverton a d Hagerstown?

[xmal]

Map:

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/local/hm-shank-raises-concerns-about-proposed-bike-trail-20120127,0,2126705.story

[Jim Titus]

@Darren. This year only the half mile standard applied. That seemed wrong and would exclude connecting wb&a and Henson creek trails to metro stations on the other side of the beltway. But 2 miles would do it. And average person rides 2 miles about as fast as one walks a half a mile. So people agreed to my motion.

I did not know about this metric you provided. Thanks. If MDOT uses it instead no one mind. Can you think of any cases in md where the differences will matter?